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INVESTIGATING TEACHER IDENTITY REPRESENTATION IN CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS
Meinarni Susilowati meinarni_susilowatiyahoo.com
UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang East Java
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the significance of applying an ethnographic action research to investigate the teacher identity
representation. It is quite common to do an action research for improving the quality of our teaching learning processes, with a
wide range of topics and scopes. Combining an action research with an ethnography creates much broader coverage and longer
term effect as well. Investigating teacher identity representation can be an alternative for an ethnographic action research. Some
notes, however, should be made considering the complexity of an ethnography and the ‘practical short term’ nature of a
classroom action research to acquire the expected outcomes.
Key terms : teacher identity representation, ethnographic action
research, short-term, long-term effect
1. BACKGROUND
Identity building is actually the ultimate goal of education but in many ways we tend to ignore this important aspect. Teachers seem invest most of their time and energy
to deal with teaching materials and strategies to fulfill their minimum standard of their subject. As soon as the target is achieved, their mission is accomplished. It is
getting more seriously misleading when teachers concern too much with such a ‘product-oriented’ business, the National Examination. It seems every single effort
should be for making students pass the exam and, to a particular extent, put aside other important aspects, among other identity shaping. In fact, it is getting more and
more significant to inoculate identity in our class. Today, the world tends to be geographically and culturally borderless and becomes the melting pot in which
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everything seems to be uniform requiring people to expose their identity. Within this global interaction, it is always our uniqueness which becomes something to expose.
Identity shaping in classroom becomes an important ‘business’ for teachers for at least two reasons. First, classroom is a fruitful arena for cultivating students’
identity. Classroom mirrors the nature of real life. Classroom interaction reflects the complexity and heterogeneity of the real world and, therefore, is effective in
preserving values and identity Norton, 2000. Classroom activities also revitalize community identity because the activities can create complex heterogeneous but
systematic contexts for every member of the class to negotiate different values and beliefs. It is further stated that the negotiation of ‘sense of self within and across
different points in a time’ provides a learner an access, through a language, to powerful social networks that give them the opportunity to speak p.5. Second,
teacher is the sole agent of identity shaping in classroom context. Teachers’ language reflects their identity and simultaneously shapes their pupil’s identity through
classroom interactions. In addition, power relation in class interaction also creates certain social structures which may determine learners’ identity Ellis, 1997. In a
broader sense, Fought 2006 asserts that selection of teachers’ linguistic features indicates their commitment of revitalizing particular values and beliefs.
Investigating teacher identity representation is then worth doing. Identity representation in classroom is perceived by both teachers and
students. Teachers, consciously or subconsciously, make effort to shape their students’ identity Susilowati, 2010a. It can be done even before the teaching is
executed, ranging from designing classroom activities, material selection, or conducting follow up activities. Susilowati 2008 found out that the materials on the
textbooks tended to be value and culture laden, which are significant in representing the community identity speaking the language. From the students’ point of view,
they also confirmed that they detected their teachers’ identity representation through the use of a particular language and some linguistic features 2010b. In addition,
they also perceived teacher identity representation, to a certain extent, may influence their identity shaping. These findings require empirical proofs to provide more
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convincing conclusion of the effect of teacher identity representation to the student identity shaping. An ethnographic classroom action research is one of the
alternatives.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
